Goal.com

Jul 24, 2012 1:10:00 PM

With London 2012 getting underway this week, Willie Duncan casts his eye over the action. He is tipping group glory for Luis Fernando Tena's seasoned side

The men’s football gets underway this week at London 2012 with the event likely to prove with football fans up and down the country as they eagerly await the return of the domestic season in August.

The competition is split into four groups for the opening round and, of those four, Group B looks set to be the toughest to call.

Mexico and Switzerland share favouritism to emerge as group winners with bookmaker Paddy Power unable to separate the pair and, subsequently, both nations can be backed at 13/10 (2.30) with the Irish bookmaker to top the group.

South Korea, who can count upon English Premiership duo Ji Dong-Won and Park Chu-Young of Sunderland and Arsenal respectively, are chalked up at 11/2 (6.50) with Paddy Power to top Group B while the footballing minnows of Gabon are rated as a 9/1 (10.0) shots with the same firm to emerge as group winners.

Both Mexico and Switzerland can be backed at 4/11 (1.36) with Paddy Power to qualify from the group while South Korea are rated as a 9/5 (2.80) chance with the same firm to make it beyond the group stages.

Unsurprisingly, Gabon bring up the rear again in this market with the Africans marked up at 23/10 (3.30) to qualify here.

Switzerland will be competing at the Olympic Games for the first time since 1928 when they were knocked out in the first round of the competition and were recently defeated by Senegal in a warm-up match for this event.

There is still hope back home that Pierluigi Tami’s youthful side can perform well in London despite some notable absentees such as Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka who have returned to Bayern Munich and Borussia Monchengladbach respectively to focus on pre-season preparations.

As such, Mexico will provide tough opposition for the Swiss in Group B and there is considerably more experience in Luis Fernando Tena’s squad, including the likes of Carlos Salcido, who has amassed 103 caps for his country. Furthermore, the North Americans come to London full of confidence having won the Toulon Tournament earlier this year.

With that in mind, there is no doubt that Mexico represent outstanding value at Paddy Power’s 13/10 (2.30) quote to top Group B and should be supported accordingly here, especially with the Swiss side missing such key players.

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